Ex-VC Discharged and Acquitted of Fraud Charges

The High Court in Abeokuta on Wednesday ruled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has failed to establish any case against the former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNNAB), Abeokuta, Olusola Oyewole, and two others over an alleged fraud of N842 million.

The court therefore discharged and acquitted the accused persons of all charges proffered against them, PT writes.

The former Vice Chancellor, Adeseye Ogunlewe (former Pro Chancellor) and Olusola Ilesanmi (Bursar), were arraigned by the EFCC on November 25, 2016, after a petition accusing them of criminal offences.

They faced an 18-count charge which included fraud, abuse of office, stealing and obtaining money under false pretence among others.

And after a year and half of deliberations, the court ruled that there were lack of evidences to convince the court it that the accused committed the crimes, stressing that the petitioners also gave evidence of information from third party, with no iota of evidence.

In the final ruling Wednesday, the judge, Olatokunbo Majekodunmi, noted that evidences by all the 11 witnesses showed lack of evidence and therefore set all the accused free, saying, “the prosecutor has not established any prima facie case against all the accused, and I hereby discharge and acquit them.”

Benjamin Ogunmodede, counsel for the accused, thanked the court for allowing justice to prevail, while in the same vein, the counsel for the EFCC, Ben Obi, expressed appreciation to the court.